Choosing Test Positions for Laser Tracker Evaluation and Future Standards Development

Abstract

Aand Craig Shakarji, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Ed Morse, Center for Precision Metrology; and Robert Bridges, FARO Technologies Inc. working group within the ISO/TC 213 committee is developing a draft document1 for evaluating the performance of laser trackers. The ASME B89.4.19 standard2 and the draft VDI/VDE 2617 part 103 describe some useful tests that are incorporated into this new ISO document, but both the ASME and VDI/VDE documents also have some limitations. The new ISO draft document, which is currently under consideration by the committee, draws from the key attributes of ASME B89.4.19 and the draft VDI/ VDE 2617 part 10 while eliminating weak or redundant tests. The approach to selecting suitable tests is based on the sensitivity of each test to different geometric misalignments in different tracker designs. We discuss the proposed ISO draft document in this article.